The train trip

Oh the day was awesome!!!! There are not many words that I can say to describe how much I enjoyed the train... it was fun, thrilling and just a perfect day all round.

The alarm went of WAY TOO EARLY but we had to get up and dressed so as not to miss the train. Judi & Aidan arrived just on 6:30 and then we made our way to Pretoria... arrived at 7:30 so had an hour to spare before the train was due to leave..... we put that time to good use... exploring the engine!


Everyone arrived and we boarded the train. In our party was:
- Keith, Cathy & Aaron
- My folks
- Judi & Aidan
- Marianne & Andreas and their two kids plus two friends
- Pamela, Kevin, Kevin's mom and their daughter Carmen


Our only downside of the trip to Cullinan was the roudy bunch in our coach who kept downing alchol... at 9 in the morning I ask you!! Actually they were already imbibing on the station before we left!



We had a glorious trip... chug chug chug and choof choof choof... wooohooo... peeeeeeeeep! The train arrived in Cullinan at 10:30... right on time! We then took a stroll into the village of Cullinan... each going our own separate way with plans to meet for lunch.



Mom, Dad and the three of us went into the information at Cullinan see if we could find out more about my mom's ancestor Frederick Wells... he discovered the Cullinan Diamond. Well the very nice guys there should us around their museum and then also showed us a DVD of the history of the town and the diamond... with PICTURES of this guy... my Mom and I were soooooooooooooo excited. This town will need another visit in the not to distant future to give us more time to explore.


We then made our way to The Lemon Tree for lunch.... a lovely little restaurant where we all had yummy lunch... more than enough to eat. The kids got to play on all the old forms of transport in the open air museum.




And we of course couldn't forget about pudding.... the main reason I chose this restaurant was because of the menu... the kiddies menu desser was listed as:

supercalaphragilisticexpealidotious ice cream

... sounded divine so I just had to have one....

mmmm... yummy. Didn't quite match the pavlova from the other night but was very nice.

Took another stroll around the village and went into Jan Harmsgat se agterplaas where there are all sorts of creations made out of all sorts of stuff... bottle caps, flattened tin cans, old sinks.. such a fun place. There were even old sewing machines bricked into the walls.


Aaron also got to cuddle a bunny before we made our way back to the train for the journey home... a much quieter affair as people were feeling a bit tired. Got some stunning pics of the train going around a few of the corners.




The weather forecast for the day had been 60% chance of rain but I had asked God if He could see to it that we didn't get rained out... but if we did to let us enjoy the day anyway. Well He must have heard me because it didn't rain... until we were driving home!! So Thank you Lord for answered prayer.


Got home at 6... two cups of coffee later before Judi & Aidan left.. then scrubbed Aaron in the bath and put him to bed. We all collapsed just after 9pm!


This was sooooooooooooo much fun that I highly recommend it... a fun day and well worth the cost. Check out http://www.friendsoftherail.com/ and do yourself a favour and book!!!